


Too Loud

by InkpenA113



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, How Do I Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:33:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkpenA113/pseuds/InkpenA113
Summary: The Phantom Thieves get into an argument. Ren snaps.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 73





	Too Loud

**Author's Note:**

> couldn't sleep last night. wrote this self indulgent shit to calm down. renren needs a break.

The plant’s looking relatively healthy. That fancy fertilizer from Shinjuku was worth the high price. Wait, when was the last time he’s worked a shift at Crossroads? What’s Lala-Chan been up to? 

“Ren? Are you ok?” 

He flinches lightly when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Yusuke is staring at him with concern in his eyes. Ren makes a small smile and nods before moving a bit closer to rest his head on the artist’s shoulder. Yusuke was always so kind to him. He gave off such a soothing aura too. Ren would love to fall asleep like this with his kind fox. Wait, there’s a fox in one of his favorite books isn’t there? What was it called again…  _ The Little Prince _ ! There’s a movie too, right? Ren was still looking for somewhere to watch it.

“Just how thick is your stupid skull?!”

“Who are you calling stupid, cat?!”

Ren blinked. Oh yeah… they’re in the middle of a Phantom Thieves meeting. His brain had tuned out when arguing started. His friends have been arguing a lot more lately…

“Mona is right though, we can’t give up on this target so easily!” Makoto says.

“That guy is a damn beast! What’s the harm in passing on him for now?!”

“I have to agree with Ryuji on this one, we still have more targets in Mementos we can focus on first!” Ann adds.

Makoto shakes her head and sighs. “Of course you guys feel that way…”

“What’s  _ that _ supposed to mean?”

“You all only want to quit because you wouldn’t just listen to my strategy! Had any of you paid attention to me we could have changed the man’s heart a long time ago!” 

Ren held down a groan and nuzzled his face into Yusuke’s neck. What the hell were they all mad about again? That’s right. There was a request on the PhanSite about a man that’s been groping high schoolers on packed trains and even stalking a few of them. His shadow proved to be pretty damn difficult to defeat and they’ve had to back out of battle twice now. Ren huffed. Was this really something they had to fight about—

“Oh my god! You always fucking do this!”

Ann is standing up now. Her eyes are full of fire— _ shit _ , what’s going on now?

“Excuse me?!”

“It’s true! You always talk down on us like you’re smarter than everyone, it pisses me off! We’re all just as smart as you!” Ryuji is up too.

“Shut up, Ryuji! Makoto is our strategist, it’s only right she makes the plans!” Morgana snapped.

“And I’m like this because I actually bother to do my class work and get good grades unlike you two,” Makoto is talking calmly but she’s just as pissed as everyone else.

“We get it! You’re the perfect prissy lil’ class president!” Ann groaned.

“And you two are a couple of dumb blondes!”

“WHAT?!”

Ren stares at each of them with an expression that’s equally blank and panicking. Why are they all fighting anyway? Aren’t they all friends…?

“Not that I’m taking sides,” Futaba speaks up from where she’s laying on Ren’s bed—he forgot she was even here, “but Makoto’s knowledge stat is definitely higher than the rest of yours. And Ryuji’s is the lowest,”

“You said you weren’t taking sides!”

“All this fighting is ridiculous, are we going to Mementos today or not?” says Yusuke.

Wait,  _ why _ did Ren even call this meeting today? They had no Palace to infiltrate yet, they didn’t need to visit Jose, he still needed to buy more meds and—wait, fuck,  _ that’s _ why. He didn’t have enough money for any provisions. He wanted to go to Mementos to farm more money. Did he forget to tell them that? 

“Uh, guys…?” Ren’s quiet voice is drowned out by the arguing. 

“Ren, tell them!” 

Wait, what? They’re all looking at him. What did he miss?

“H-Huh?”

“They’re too reckless and they never think anything through because they don’t have the experience I do, aren’t I right?” Makoto said.

“Bullshit! You’re the one being a bossy bitch! You aren’t our leader, Ren is!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Ren tensed up, straightening his back. Things were getting too loud…

“I-I think—“

“Why are you even asking him? He agrees with literally everything Ryuji says!” Futaba exclaimed.

“Maybe because  _ I _ never blackmailed him like  _ some _ people I know!” 

“Why would you even bring that up now?!” 

Ren swallowed and let out a heavy breath. He can’t even comprehend half of their words now, all the sound is coming up a tangled mess and it’s hurting his head.

“Guys, please—“

“You’re a goddamn dumbass, Ryuji!” Morgana yelled.

“Shut the hell up you useless cat!” 

Once again Ren’s voice goes unheard.

“Would you all stop already?!” The anger is getting to Yusuke now. “Screaming your heads off and throwing foul language at each other will not solve anything!”

“You’re just as idiotic as them, Inari!” Futaba says.

“Wh—?!”

Ren is hyperventilating. It’s too loud. It’s too  _ loud _ .  _ It’s too fucking loud _ . He can’t take another second. He can’t stop the feeling bubbling inside him and rising. He doesn’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.

“AAAAGH SHUT THE FUCK UP!!”

The whole room is deathly silent when Ren is on his feet, hands slamming down on the table. None of them had ever heard him raise his voice like that...

“Just fucking shut up, why can’t you all shut up for  _ one fucking minute! _ I’m so sick of being pulled into the same fucking arguments all the time, I can’t keep solving your damn problems for you! What kind of friends hurt each other like this?!”

Ren’s whole body is shaking. His legs look like they might give out under him. He slowly sinks back down to his seat, hugging himself as he starts sobbing. He moved his hands up to rub away the tears rapidly streaming down his face and staining his glasses.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” his voice had gone hoarse.

Nobody says anything at first. Yusuke slowly takes Ren’s glasses off and sets them on the table before pulling him closer, ensnaring him into a hug. Ann comes over to his other side to wrap her arms around his waist and nuzzle his hair.

“Shhh, don’t apologize… I’m sorry…” she whispers.

Morgana’s ears droop and he frowns. Makoto still looks steamed, but turns her head away as she makes fists.

“Let’s… let’s go to Mementos another time…”

With that said, she quickly picks up her bag and descends the attic stairs, stomping down each step. Futaba slid off the bed and awkwardly twiddled her thumbs before muttering something about getting some curry before leaving too. Ryuji sits back down with a sigh, a sad look aimed at his crying friend. Then he reached down into his bag and pulled out some tissues.

“I’m sorry too. Here, dry your face,” 

Yusuke took the tissues and handed them to Ren, who quickly hid his face in them.

“Ryuji? Can you go downstairs and get him some water?” Morgana asked.

“Sure thing,” 

He got up and hurried off without question. Morgana hopped off the table and settled in Ren’s lap, rubbing his head against his stomach and purring. 

“We’ve really been driving you crazy haven’t we…?” he sighed.

“Yeah… maybe we should take a short break? I’m pretty sure we could all use a few days to relax,” Ann said.

“There was a new exhibit at the aquarium you wanted to visit, wasn’t there Ren? Perhaps we could go later once you’ve calmed down,” 

Yusuke remembered that? He was occupied with a painting when Ren told him about it. He didn’t think he was even listening. Ryuji came back upstairs then. Ren accepted the glass of water from him and drank slowly. 

“It’s kinda hot today…” Ryuji’s tone was soft, “maybe I could run to the convenience store and get those Korean ice cream bars you like?”

“Yeah, you want some ice cream, Ren?” Ann smiled at him. 

Ren kept the glass up to his mouth, not sipping water but gnawing his teeth on the rim. He nodded. 

“I’m gonna go to the store with Ryuji, ok? We’ll be right back,”

Ann kissed his cheek. Ryuji came over and pet his hair. As they both left, Ren set his glass down and leaned more into Yusuke’s side. Morgana got out of the way so Yusuke could lay Ren’s head in his lap. The cat jumped onto the desk and laid there, his tail flicking back and forth. Ren could hear them talking about something in quiet voices, but once again tuned it all out. He didn’t want to focus on sound right now.

Yusuke had a hand in his hair, idly stroking it the same way you would a cat. It put Ren at ease. He could see the trees out his window; so many lovely shades of green basking in the sunlight. He glanced up at the star stickers on his ceiling. Living with the stars sounded nice. That model ramen bowl catches Ren’s eye, a bowl of ramen sounded really good right now… maybe they could get some after the aquarium.

Ren sniffled, rubbing his slightly wet cheek. His eyes felt weird from crying. Yusuke’s fingers brushed over his cheek, swiping hair behind his ear. 

“Oh? It looks like he’s falling asleep,”

“Ah, let him. He deserves a short rest. I’m gonna check on Futaba,”

He hears the little tip-taps of Morgana’s paws go by, how cute! Yusuke resumes stroking his hair and hums quietly. His voice is so nice. All the aggression and noise was finally gone. And although Ren’s head was still aching and there was an uneasy feeling in his stomach, he allowed himself to shut his eyes for a minute, just a minute...


End file.
